AS Saint-Etienne : OL-ASSE: Sidney Govou looks back on his best memories of matches against Saint-Etienne | ASSE News

Sidney Govou, was the match against Saint-Etienne the one you checked off first, as soon as the calendar was published, when you were playing with the OL reserves?

Sidney Govou. : “I arrived in Lyon at 18 from Puy-en-Velay. I already knew that it was not mad love between Lyon and Saint-Etienne. The players and especially the coaches reminded us of the importance of this match, in particular Robert Valette, Gérard Drevet or Armand Garrido. When I was in reserve, I went to see the derby of the U17s and the U15s. Same when we played against Saint-Etienne: all the youth teams of OL attended the game.”

On April 14, 2000, you played your first professional match against Saint-Etienne (0-0, at Gerland). You replaced Philippe Violeau in the 82nd minute. What memories do you have of this meeting?

S.G. : “I remember that it was my first derby and that I returned at the end of the match. This match did not mark me too much. It was the season when the Greens were back in D1. I remember more from the OL-ASSE match (2-1, December 21, 2000) the following season. I came home ten minutes from the end. The turn of the match was very striking. We won on the wire thanks to an angry header from Christophe Delmotte who represented a lot of things for me, as a player but also on a human level. When I arrived in the team, I was a kid and he was the guy who always had the right word without taking the head, without taking my head, while having the desire to win every day. I learned a lot watching him train. I was crazy on the pitch when he found the net. It was the last game before the winter break, and we felt like we were giving a nice gift to the Lyon supporters. Winning the derby at home is magic.”

On October 3, 2004, you gave OL three points to Geoffroy-Guichard (3-2) in the final moments when Saint-Etienne thought they were holding the victory before Juninho’s penalty in the 87th minute…

S.G. : “I remember the action well: at the end of a throw, Nilmar gets caught near the surface. The referee does not whistle and there is a favorable counter. The ball comes back to me on the left , I make a hook before chaining a shot towards the tight angle of Jérémie Janot’s goal.Scoring at the end of the match in the derby in front of childhood friends who had made the trip, that’s one of the greatest moments of my career. After I took off my jersey, it wasn’t to embarrass the Stéphanois. It was more to celebrate the goal with my friends. Score a decisive goal in stoppage time at Geoffroy-Guichard when you wear the colors of Lyon, it is not insignificant.”

What was the atmosphere in the Lyon locker room after this victory?

S.G. : “Personally, I was not very expressive after the matches. Dancing or singing in the locker room, it was not really my delirium. After the matches, I was more calm.”

On April 29, 2006, you comfortably beat Saint-Etienne at Gerland (4-0). That evening, all the Lyon players dyed their hair. Who had had this idea?

S.G. : “(Laughs). I was calm after the matches, but I could be “mad-crazy” before. At that time, OL were already French champions. Nino (note: Sylvain Wiltord), Bryan ( Bergougnoux) and I, we decide to go and buy hair bombs and masks, whereas at the base we had to take confetti. No one knew about it. Finally, we go to all the players’ rooms and we said: ‘here, we’ll do that before the match.’ Some answered us: ‘oh my, that sucks, it’s a derby, if we lose…’ But we were champions and we had to Finally, we all arrive together ten minutes after the start of the coach’s talk (note: Gérard Houllier). We open the door, and there I will always remember the eyes of President Jean-Michel Aulas when he sees us arrive made up and disguised. He probably said to himself: ‘I hope it will go well’. We hesitated before the warm-up and then finally we all went back on the field like that. only at the end.”

This match is surely the most successful OL-ASSE derby you have played…

S.G. : “We still have a very complicated first quarter of an hour where Saint-Etienne gets the best chances. Greg (Coupet) makes two or three important saves. But afterwards, the game is almost perfect. Is it that it was the best Lyon-ASSE on a personal level? It was the funniest for sure. For me, the best match is when you win.”

Is this OL team, season 2005-06, the best of the great Lyon period?

S.G. : “It’s hard to compare, but in any case it’s one of the seasons where I had the most pleasure. We were younger, there was more carelessness. We gave off something different compared to the seasons that followed, where there was more maturity.”

Of all the Saint-Etienne defenders you have faced, which gave you the most difficulty?

S.G. : “I remember having a hard time during a match against Mouhamadou Dabo.”

In 2010, you went to Panathinaikos. From Greece, did you closely follow the exit of Jean-Michel Aulas who told Lyon supporters that Saint-Etienne “played the C1 on Playstation” after the defeat of OL at home (0-1)?